Tuesday, January 17, 2006

The ACLU along with some like-thinking groups/people are suing the National Security Agency. They claim that they are a subject of wiretapping because of the people that they represent. Well, if they are defending terrorists, they probably should be afraid of wiretapping. They are a hazard to our safety if they are defending known terrorists. Here is the list of plaintiffs along with the ACLU:

Authors and journalists: James Bamford, Christopher Hitchens and Tara McKelvey

Afghanistan scholar: Barnett Rubin of New York University’s Center on International Cooperation and democracy scholar Larry Diamond, a fellow at the Hoover Institution

Nonprofit advocacy groups: NACDL, Greenpeace, and Council on American Islamic Relations, who joined the lawsuit on behalf of their staff and membership

Greenpeace is a terrorist organization as far as I'm concerned. They may have started out wanting to help protect the environment, but they have gone off the deep end by destroying property as well as harrassment of companies who, in their opinion, are "bad for the environment."

Greenpeace's tactics aside, these people want to take our national security and open it up to those the government is trying to protect us from. The NSA does not want to have to prove that what they did or are still doing is not illegal because the only way to prove it is to show what is being done. But, it is a secret for a reason...it's call national security. If the NSA is forced to prove it, it will let the terrorists know exactly how we are getting the information. The information that stopped a man in Ohio from blowing up the Brooklyn bridge.

They are suing over more than just supposed spying on US citizens. They are also claiming that Bush and the NSA overstepped his bounds. Their claim states:

In the legal complaint filed, the ACLU said the spying program violates Americans’ rights to free speech and privacy under the First and Fourth Amendments of the Constitution.

The ACLU also charged that the program violates the Constitution because President Bush exceeded his authority under separation of powers principles. Congress has enacted two statutes, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and Title III of the federal criminal code, which are “the exclusive means by which electronic surveillance. . . and the interception of domestic wire, oral, and electronic communications may be conducted.”

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Michigan, seeks a court order declaring that the NSA spying is illegal and ordering its immediate and permanent halt. Attorneys in the case are Beeson, Jameel Jaffer, and Melissa Goodman of the national ACLU Foundation, and Michael Steinberg of the ACLU of Michigan.The lawsuit names as defendants the NSA and Lieutenant General Keith B. Alexander, the current the Director of the NSA.

The White House and NSA has stated that if you are not talking to or aiding terrorists or known terrorist groups then you have nothing to worry about.

These calls are being monitored outside of the US and they are continuing the monitoring even if the call goes to a US phone number. Has there been anyone to come forward stating that they have been targeted or harrassed by the NSA? I would imagine that if someone in the US is being harrassed they are people who do not fall into these catagories:

Federal law and executive order define a U.S. Person as:

* a citizen of the United States * an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence * an unincorporated association with a substantial number of members who are citizens of the U.S. or are aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence * a corporation that is incorporated in the U.S. (*)

If they do not fall into one of these catagories, they are an illegal alien and are not covered by the Constitution. And chances are, that if they are an illegal alien and are contacting known terrorists or terrorist groups, they are a terrorist.

It is as if the ACLU and the others involved in this suit would like to have our country attacked again. That is the only conclusion I can come to because they are trying to stop any way that the government is using to protect us from another attack. I don't have a problem with them listening in on phone calls between known terrorists and phone numbers in the US and I am not the only one to feel this way either:

Should the National Security Agency be allowed to intercept telephone conversations between terrorism suspects in other countries and people living in the United States?Yes 64%No 23%Rasmussen Reports

For further posts regarding this lawsuit see Stop the ACLU and their accompanying trackbacks.